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The Power and Influence of the Writer's Notebook

I have shared my writer's notebooks many times across the years and
given that I have been using a notebook for more than 30 years, there is quite
an array. I impress upon students that my notebooks reflect my way of operating
with a notebook and that it may not necessarily be the way they choose to
develop a notebook. Every writer must find their own unique way when it comes to using a
notebook.

I always inform these curious learners that to be a useful
resource for any writer, a notebook requires regular feeding. You must feed it
the ‘stuff’ of your life. It is important to challenge the notion that reading
and writing are just for school. Encouraging students to take their notebooks
out into the world gives them greater ownership of their writing lives. I want young
writers to see their notebook as a travelling companion. I tell them how my notebooks go everywhere I go. Just in case...

I ask every student writer to accept certain challenges when
scanning my notebooks. I give each of them notepads upon which they can make
notes.

I urge them to be:

Curious
learners

Text
detectives

Explorers

Thinkers
and Questioners

Collectors
and Note-takers

They are given notebooks to share in small groups. I watch
as they scan and peruse the pages of the notebooks. They ponder. They wonder.
They discuss entries and puzzle over certain artefacts. As I work the room checking in on groups,
questions constantly come my way.

When the exploring is complete, we gather to share the
findings of their action research. It is time to compile a list of the things
their detective work has revealed. They inform me of such things as:

Lots of beginnings

Poetry

Memoir

Reports

Recounts

Lists –so many lists

Quotes

Ephemera- tickets, business cards, greeting cards,
messages, emails

Photographs

Drawings

Cartoons

Opinion pieces

Maps, plans

Extracts from mentor texts

Writing craft ideas

Memory markers

Facts -some unusual facts

Each notebook was different in size

Some notebooks had no lines

All the notebooks had strong protective covers.

Many of them had personalized covers

'There was lots of writing.'

Each time I do this, I marvel at what catches the eye of
young writers. The questions asked and the observation made impress me greatly.
I have the students tell a partner one thing (at least) they would begin to
include in their notebooks as a result of viewing another writer’s notebook. I
then get them to share with me. I like to follow up to see what progress has
been made. The aim is to close the gap between intention and action.

It is important to sustain the energy for writing and
collecting entries moving forward. The support of teachers remains vital here.

I encourage teachers to also have writer’s notebooks they
can feed with raw stuff. The challenge for all young writers (and their
teachers) is to embrace the challenge of producing rich and varied notebook
entries. -Entries that begin to capture their interests and present their
personalities on the page.

I urge all teachers of writing to share their notebooks entries with their students. When teachers take such mindful action they are sharing critical understandings. Understandings about where writers find inspiration and ideas. Understandings about the way writers observe, connect and collect from the world they inhabit. The most proficient writer in the room thus begins to have a significant influence on the writing that follows.

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Another school year is on the horizon in Australia...To assist teachers launching writing in their classrooms in the early days of the new school year, I offer the following support. Hope you find these ideas helpful in commencing your writing program in 2018.

My sincere hope for this year, is for student writers to encounter teachers who are focused on how to write, rather than what to write. In order for this to occur, teachers of writing must be prepared to commit to being writers too. Writing alongside your students sends a vital message regarding the importance of being someone who chooses to write, and sees value in such acts. it will immediately elevate writing in the minds of impressionable, curious learners. I urge you to be bold and brave. Become the risk taker you want your students to be.

I can say this with full confidence; every teacher possesses the potential to be the most influential writing mentor students will encounter in any school year.

To prepare for the writing that will emerge during the year we need to teach young writers how to find great ideas for writing lying deep inside themselves, before writing about them with focus. We need young writers to think deeply about what they are writing down. We want them to write about the things that matter most to them, -those things closest to the heart.

Encourage young writers to REREAD their initial work efforts to see if they can add more information for their reading audience.

Possible Teaching Points Upon Which to Focus:

•Writers make lists of important memories, people, places which could become story topics.

•Writers often sketch important memories, people, places which could spark an idea for a writing piece. They collect artifacts and ephemera to further stimulate their thinking.

•Writers get ideas for writing from reading lots of books. Books similar in genre/mode to what they are wishing to write.

Writing What You ReadI am acutely aware what I read influences what I write. With that thought at the front of my thoughts today, I find myself reflecting on my summer reading.

It just so happens that during the summer I was fortunate enough to receive two poetry books as gifts and managed to find three more, I purchased myself. All in all it was a rather eclectic collection of poems, to say the least. That fact just added to the appeal.

A Name Means Everything From my study I often hear one of our neighbours calling her dogs in the forlorn hope that they will obey her commands.

Ava and Theo, her two strong willed Pugs regularly pay her no mind. They are her untamed babies, wild and willful. Despite her numerous pleas for compliance they continue to wander and scamper off in directions of their own choosing. ‘Theo, come back now!’ ‘Ava, Ava, no!’ ‘Ava, Theo, come here, right now!’ Those defiant little dogs feign deafness and snuffle away, only returning when good and ready. The pugly truth is they are quite naughty.

I chuckle each time I hear the plaintive cries. Those dogs have the coolest names though. Theo and Ava. With names like that I feel they should be a geriatric couple defying the dimming of their days with age inappropriate behaviour, rather than two tiny Pug dogs. I wonder where those doggy names originated? I’m sure there’s a story there...

Returning ToSpine Poetry Because it is Friday. Poetry is in order. Poetry is always in order, but particularly as the working week ends. I welcome it like wine on the weekend.

To try this poetry idea I grabbed a plentiful supply of books. I went to my personal library, scanned the shelves for suitable titles before arranging them in an order I felt provided some cohesive flow of ideas. This provides some spine splendid viewing fun. It's word play. Spine time. Something all writers need to indulge in, from time to time.

When I was satisfied with the order, I photographed my creations.

Always an easy, fun way to engage young poets, and more experienced poets too, in creating words of wonder and delight.

The top one is brand new. Inspired by some poetry titles in my collection. It has just emerged from the Poet's oven. The other two are earlier creations, re-presented for your viewing/reading pleasure.

People who write get to live life twice - in the moment and in retrospect. That's what sets writers and poets apart. I rarely go anywhere, or do anything without the shadow of my writing self being part of the adventure. Every experience provides opportunities to harvest writing ideas. It is a lens through which to view the limitless possibilities of the moment. I look forward to your responses, feedback and ideas.